Geological walk guide books

New! Exploring the landscape of the National Forest

The distinctive landscape of the National Forest includes a wide variety of geology for the Precambrian of Charnwood Forest up to Recent.

This book and simplified geological map describe the geology and geodiversity in simple terms. The area once yielded many products as a direct result of the geology, including coal, iron ore, fireclay, pottery clay, lime, lead and building stones.

Ongoing and generally prosperous industries include brick clay, aggregates and gypsum. Other sections describe the landscape, biodiversity, archaeology, water resources, historic buildings and the brewing industry that grew up in Burton upon Trent, as a result of the gypsum-rich waters.

The ten walks include the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire coalfields, the Fauld crater wartime disaster, the Ticknall lime yards, most of the local reservoirs and a building stones walk around Burton upon Trent. Maps of each walk are included in the book rather than on the map face.

Exploring the landscape of Assynt

The wild and wonderful landscape of Assynt is one of Britain’s most beautiful areas, and is home to Britain’s oldest rocks — the basement rock of the area, the Lewisian Gneiss, was formed 3000 million years ago.

Over time, the area has gone through mountain-building, been submerged beneath shallow tropical seas, has collided with continents, and been massively eroded by ice, before the first people took up residence there around 2500 years ago.

This unique book and map pack describes eight walks in Assynt, ranging from easy to more challenging mountain walks. The book describes these in detail, explains how the landscape has formed and changed through time, and is illustrated with photographs and paintings which give a birds-eye view of the routes and scenery.

The fold-out colour map shows the different rock types which make up the area and also has the walks and other sites of interest marked. Perfect for the walker who wants to know more about this beautiful region, the book assumes no previous geological knowledge, but describes the area in clear, straightforward language.

Exploring the landscape of Assynt can be purchased online through the BGS Bookshop.

Exploring the landscape of Charnwood Forest and Mountsorrel

With its distinctive scenery of rolling hills and stark, craggy knolls, Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire has long been regarded as one of the classic areas of British geology.

This book and map pack holds a 1:25 000 scale geological map while the accompanying booklet explains the events that have happened in this area during the past 600 million years of Earth history.

Eleven linked walks take the visitor to spectacular exposures of rocks formed close to ancient Precambrian volcanoes, when the landscape of Leicestershire resembled today’s Montserrat.

These walks also show evidence for what was happening in the surrounding seas of the time, where feather-like organisms now known as Britain’s oldest fossils once flourished. Also to be seen are traces of former Carboniferous coral reefs, Triassic deserts and the arctic conditions of the last Ice Age.

Each walk is shown on the geological map, which also shows photographs of the most common rock types found in the area.

Together, the book and map offer a real understanding of why the Charnwood area looks the way it does today. Specially designed for the walker, this pack assumes no prior knowledge of geology but presents the information clearly, with no jargon.

Exploring the landscape of Eastern and Western Mendip

The Mendips in Somerset are famous for their fabulous landscapes — limestone gorges, waterfalls and caves. The BGS have published two books and maps which describe the Mendips area — one covering the eastern part of the region, the other the western.

The 1:25 000 scale map shows the rocks which form the landscape, while the book explains the types of rocks, flora and fauna which can be found in the region.

Both book and map are written for the walker, the ambler or the scrambler — perfect for anyone with an interest in the outdoors.